


to be a monster

by pissfizz



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Animal Transformation, Body Horror, Brief Flashback, Dragon Zuko, Gen, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Shapeshifting, dragon!zuko, i think, probably best to tag that just in case, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:08:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26112427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pissfizz/pseuds/pissfizz
Summary: Zuko’s transformation into a dragon as he falls from a great height, written in detail.Warnings!Body Horror!!
Comments: 7
Kudos: 105





	to be a monster

**Author's Note:**

> So I’ve been obsessed with the Dragon Zuko au recently and I’ve been writing a lot on it and I wrote this but it doesn’t fit anywhere with my actual story, nor actually follow any of the rules of his dragon-ness that I set out, as I wrote this before that. I wanted to post this anyway though :))   
> CW: Body Horror  
> Enjoy!!

Zuko didn’t like transforming more than necessary. Being in dragon form was dangerous, and attention grabbing. He and his uncle had practiced partial transformations before, and Zuko could will his teeth sharp and his hands into claws if he so wished, with the side effect of scales, or slit pupils, or horns, or even all at once. But when his emotions got the better of him, it became harder and harder to control himself. The angrier he got the more scales appeared on his arms, the more scared he got the sharper his nails got, the more depressive he got the more his horns grew on his head, the more excited he got the sharper his teeth became. Sometimes he could get so worked up he would transform completely, and he couldn’t stop the effects until he was calm again.   
There was only once he had transformed fully and intentionally. When he was young he had always known he was odd, until one day when he was eight or nine, Azula jumped out at him from behind a corner, scaring him into his very first transformation. When he and Azula realized he had turned into a dragon, they grew excited. Dragons were the original firbenders, Father and Grandfather would be so proud! And so for a week Zuko practiced transforming. When the time came, Zuko stood before his family, his Grandfather in the throne, his parents and sister on the floor before him. The nervous energy he had aided his transformation, and for the first time since he realized what he was he transformed into a full dragon. He was small, if an adult picked him up he could be draped over their shoulders like a scarf. But he was still a dragon.   
Ursa was horrified. Her precious baby was some kind of hybrid monster. She hadn’t meant to say it aloud, but that was the first of many insults Zuko would receive for being this way.   
Ozai’s mind was swirling. He didn’t understand how this was possible, neither his family nor Ursa’s were blessed by Agni, and he doesn’t remember Zuko ever being either. But his mind was also whirring with all the possibilities. If he could turn Zuko into a warrior, he could use him to slay whole battlefields when he was bigger, he could use him for so many things that would aid the Fire Nation in this war.   
Azula was proud of her big brother. He had been so excited, she couldn’t help it. He was a terrible firebender and war strategist, the only things he was good at were reciting old theater scripts from memory and playing with turtleducks. It wasn’t every day he had something worth showing the Firelord.   
Azulon was furious. There was a reason Sozin had started the tradition of killing off all the dragons. He had ordered Zuko to never transform again, and never tell anyone that wasn’t already in this room. If he broke these rules, the dragons would actually go extinct this time. He had called Zuko a “disgusting half breed monster”.   
But now Zuko needed to transform. He was falling, and there was nothing to grab ahold of, the ground was hundreds of feet down, there was no way he would survive.   
And so Zuko willed his body to morph into that of a serpentine dragon, stretching and contracting in a way that used to be painful, but now wasn’t.   
His shoulders began to swell and twist and stretch, and he could feel his skin stretching outwards and over the bones that were forming and rearranging themselves from his back. The texture became leathery in between each long bone, stretched taught.   
Scales began to rise across his body, a protective shell over his pathetic human skin. He could feel each one come out of his skin, and lay flat, overlapping each other and following the flow of his body.  
His torso began to stretch out long, become thin and snake like, his spine growing and his ribs contorting. He could feel his organs twisting and reshaping themselves inside himself. The end of his body narrowed into a tail, with a dark plume of hair at the end.   
His arms and legs shortened and his muscles twisted, relayering themselves as the positioning of his limbs moved to be spread further apart on his long body. The hands and feet at the end of his legs morphed into talons, the fingers and toes fusing and stretching into three long claws, the nails becoming sharp and deadly.   
His head elongated into a muzzle, skull reforming underneath his skin. His features stretched, his teeth became fangs, two long whiskers grew from the sides of his mouth. His ears twisted into a different shape and moved upwards on his head, and above them his bones stretched into horns. His hair became a long mane, following the curvature of his spine.   
His inner fire grew brighter, decorated in a rainbow of colors, gold and silver, roaring inside of him.   
Zuko’s transformation finally complete, he unfurled his wings and caught himself in the air. It felt good to fly, it was something he never had done that often, but something he had always craved in his dreams.   
He flew down to the ground that had been anticipating his human body to be crushed on it. His talons touched down gently, but with power in itself. His presence exuded intimidation and wisdom, like a higher power coming down to earth.   
He began his transformation back into a human, but only one thought clouded his mind.   
He hated transforming. He hated being a monster. 


End file.
